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Bring on tomorrow - AIG.com

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ITEM 7 / INVESTMENTS.....................................................................................................................................................................................InvestmentsOVERVIEW..............................................................................................................................................................................................Our investment strategies are tailored to the specific business needs of each operating unit. The investmentobjectives are driven by the business model for each of the businesses: <strong>AIG</strong> Property Casualty, <strong>AIG</strong> Life andRetirement, and the Direct Investment book. The primary objectives are generati<strong>on</strong> of investment in<strong>com</strong>e,preservati<strong>on</strong> of capital, liquidity management and growth of surplus to support the insurance products. The majorityof assets backing our insurance liabilities c<strong>on</strong>sist of intermediate and l<strong>on</strong>g durati<strong>on</strong> fixed maturity securities.Market C<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s..............................................................................................................................................................................................Our investments and investment strategies were affected by the following c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s in 2012:• Central banks initiated acti<strong>on</strong>s intended to improve weakening ec<strong>on</strong>omic c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s, including the European CentralBank’s <strong>com</strong>mitment to further b<strong>on</strong>d purchases and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s <strong>com</strong>mitment to maintain the FederalFunds Rate in the zero to a quarter percent range. The Federal Reserve also <strong>com</strong>mitted to support the mortgagemarket via purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities, and extended ‘‘Operati<strong>on</strong> Twist’’, a program ofredeeming short-term U.S. Treasury securities and using the proceeds to buy l<strong>on</strong>ger-term U.S. Treasury securitieswith the objective of putting downward pressure <strong>on</strong> l<strong>on</strong>ger-term interest rates.• Equity markets experienced positive returns.• B<strong>on</strong>d yields remained low in the U.S., as evidenced by the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate ending the year at1.76 percent.• The U.S. dollar weakened during the year by 2 percent and 5 percent versus the Euro and British pound,respectively, and strengthened 13 percent versus the Yen.Investment Strategies..............................................................................................................................................................................................At the local operating unit level, investment strategies are based <strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong>s that include the local market,general market c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s, liability durati<strong>on</strong> and cash flow characteristics, rating agency and regulatory capitalc<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong>s, legal investment limitati<strong>on</strong>s, tax optimizati<strong>on</strong> and diversificati<strong>on</strong>.• In the case of life insurance and retirement services <strong>com</strong>panies, as well as in the DIB, our fundamental investmentstrategy is to match the durati<strong>on</strong> characteristics of the liabilities with assets of <strong>com</strong>parable durati<strong>on</strong>, to the extentpracticable.• Fixed maturity securities held by the domestic insurance <strong>com</strong>panies included in <strong>AIG</strong> Property Casualty historicallyhave c<strong>on</strong>sisted primarily of laddered holdings of tax-exempt municipal b<strong>on</strong>ds, which provided attractive after-taxreturns and limited credit risk. To meet the current risk-return and tax objectives of <strong>AIG</strong> Property Casualty, cashflows from the investment portfolio and insurance operati<strong>on</strong>s are generally being reinvested by the domesticproperty and casualty <strong>com</strong>panies in taxable instruments which meet the <strong>com</strong>panies’ liquidity, durati<strong>on</strong> and creditquality objectives as well as current risk-return and tax objectives.• Outside of the U.S., fixed maturity securities held by <strong>AIG</strong> Property Casualty <strong>com</strong>panies c<strong>on</strong>sist primarily ofintermediate durati<strong>on</strong> high-grade securities generally denominated in the currencies of the countries in which weoperate.Investment Highlights..............................................................................................................................................................................................The following is an overview of investment activities during 2012:• Purchases of corporate debt securities c<strong>on</strong>tinued to be the largest asset allocati<strong>on</strong> of new investments...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................138 <strong>AIG</strong> 2012 Form 10-K

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